Canada must get serious about its relationship with China: transition document

Canada is stumbling behind its western allies in the race to develop a strong relationship with China, according to a high-level transition document leaked to The Vancouver Sun.

Ottawa “cannot continue to approach China in an episodic and transactional way,” states the advice to the next foreign affairs minister in an implicit, but scathing, critique of the Harper government’s approach to China.

“China presents vast economic opportunities,” says the report, prepared for whichever party or parties forms government after the Oct. 19 election. “It is in Canada’s primordial national interest to maximize the benefits to be gained by economically engaging a rising China.”